However, when one actually looks at the Qu'ran, one immediately sees the huge disparities between their God and the Judeo-Christian God. Franklin Graham is right in that sense, then, when he draws that distinction. I believe he's absolutely right--the Islamic faith is not built around the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. I'm not sure whether Muslims actually believe they worship the same God, or whether they simply say that in order to be more acceptable to Christians. But regardless, I'm convinced that the God they serve is not the Christian God at all, but a false god...an idol, if you will...
While they believe in the God of Abraham, from what I've seen they would not swear allegiance to the God of Isaac and Jacob, but rather the God of Ishmael. But God identifies Himself in the Old Testament as the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
And that is the beginning of the dividing line between the different religions.
-penny
Granted the PERSPECTIVE of God held by Muslims and Christians and Jews is different, but because their PERSPECTIVE of God is different from ours, does not mean they recognise another God.
According to Muslim belief, both Christians and Jews are "people of the book", as they follow the old Bible upon which Islam is in part based. Accordingly, Christians and Jews are not to be stopped from practising their faith or forcefully converted. This is a distinction Muslims make between the latter and pagans who worship idols. Hence Muslims themselves feel Christians and Jews worship the same God Muslims worship. In a sense they view Christianity and Judaism as an unevolved arrested faith in the same sense that Christians tend to view Judaism or Protestants tned to view Catholicism.
The entire subject of Islam and Christianity and Judaism is a difficult one. Just as Christianity comes in different sects, so does Islam. While there are certain elements of Islam that westerners find difficult to accept, there are certain other asapects of their faith that are commendable - their modesty, their dedidication to charity, to devotion to a monotheistic God, etc. I must confess that I have an ambivalent mind on this subject and really can't decide how to view these people or their religion.
Check out site http://www.arches.uga.edu/~godlas/sufism1.html if you are interested in a less well known sect of Islam - Sufism - a sect that has saints and was viewed by many theologians in the past as being close to Gnostic Christianity.